Burt’s lobbying work for New European Pipeline AG, the company behind the pipeline known as Nord Stream II, began in February. At the time, the Russian state-owned oil giantGazprom owned a 50 percent stake in New European Pipeline AG. In August, five European partners pulled out and Gazprom now owns 100 percent.

This spring, Burt helped shape Trump’s first major foreign policy address, according to Burt and other sources. Burt recommended that Trump take a more “realist,” less interventionist approach to world affairs, as first reported by Reuters. Trump’s April 27 speech sounded those themes and called for greater cooperation with Russia.

“I believe an easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia — from a position of strength — is possible,” Trump said in the speech. “Common sense says this cycle of hostility must end. Some say the Russians won’t be reasonable. I intend to find out.” The Russian ambassador to the United States broke the diplomatic norm against attending campaign events to sit in the front row.

But the revelation of Burt’s lobbying activity raises new questions about Russian influence in Trump’s campaign. In August, his campaign chair Paul Manafort resigned amid revelations about his ties to pro-Russian forces in Ukraine and the campaign’s reported role in changing the Republican Party platform to favor Kremlin interests. It also comes as the Trump campaign struggles to maintain a unified message on Russia, with Trump having called Putin a “strong leader” and “a leader, far more than our president has been” while his running mate Mike Pence called Putin “small” and “bullying” in Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.

In addition to helping shape Trump’s speech, Burt attended two dinners this summer hosted by Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who had been named chairman of Trump’s national security committee. Burt was invited to discuss issues of national security and foreign policy, and wrote white papers for Sessions on the same subjects, according to Burt and another person with knowledge of the situation.

According to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, one of the papers was about “key foreign policy themes” and another was about “national security decision-making and structure; relationships between Defense, State, [the National Security Council] and so on and how to sort of think about the transition.” According to a second person with knowledge of the situation, Sessions was “very impressed” with the latter paper. A spokesman for Sessions did not respond to a request for comment.

All the while, Burt continued to be paid for his Nord Stream II lobbying work, which is ongoing. Asked about the simultaneous lobbying and advising, both sides downplayed the relationship.

“We have no knowledge of this,” wrote Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks in an email…For his part, Burt, a former Reagan State Department official and U.S. ambassador to Germany, said he does not consider himself an adviser to the campaign and that he would provide Hillary Clinton with advice if asked. Burt said that while he has discussed Trump with Russian officials, his work for Nord Stream II has only involved contact with the project’s European staff in Zug, Switzerland. He said his firm, McLarty Associates – headed by former President Bill Clinton’s ex-chief of staff Mack McLarty – was referred the Nord Stream II work by a financial PR firm in New York. According to congressional disclosures signed by Burt and another member of the firm, the lobbying work consists of “monitoring and supplementing Washington discussion of EU energy security.” Politico

“After negotiation of the START I treaty, Burt left government service and entered the private sector. He served as John McCain‘s top national security adviser during McCain’s 2000 and 2008 Presidential campaigns.[5] In 2000, he, Lord Powell of Bayswater and others founded the Washington, D.C.,-based private intelligence and risk-assessment and management firm Due Diligence with Diligence Europe headed by Michael Howard.[6] While he chaired Diligence, Nathaniel Rothschild, a close friend of Oleg Deripaska and grandson of Victor Rothschild, purchased a large stake in Diligence.[5] While Deripaska was banned from entering the United State from 1998-2010,[7][8][9][10] he hired Diligence for corporate intelligence gathering, visa lobbying due to its powerful GOP connections and helping to obtain a $150 million World Bank/European Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan for the Komi Aluminum Project at Sosnogorsk, Komi Republic, a Deripaska subsidiary of Rusal.[5][11] In 2007, he left Diligence to work with Henry Kissinger’s consulting firm.[5] He has also worked as a partner in consulting firms McKinsey and Company and McLarty Associates. In addition, he has served on boards for Deutsche Bank‘s Scudder and Germany mutual fund families, America Abroad Media,[12] International Games Technology, UBS mutual funds, Textron Corporation, and the senior advisory board of Russian Alfa-Bank. Burt is also a Senior Advisor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies[3] and U.S. Chair of Global Zero.[13] He has lobbied on behalf of LOT Polish Airlines, the Capital Bank of Jordan, and Ukrainian construction firm TMM.[14][15]

In 2014, Burt served as an unpaid foreign policy advisor for Rand Paul‘s campaign for president.[16][17]

During the first two quarters of 2016, Burt’s firm received $365,000 to lobby for New European Pipeline AG, a firm owned by Russian oil company Gazprom.[14] Beginning in February 2016, he and a colleague lobbied for Nord Stream II, an expansion of the Nord Stream pipeline which would allow Russian gas to reach Europe without going through Belarus or Ukraine. During the same time, Burt became an advisor for the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.[18] He encouraged Trump to take a less interventionist approach to foreign affairs[19] and helped craft Trump’s first major foreign policy speech at the think tank Center for the National Interest on April 27, 2016. In the speech, Trump called for greater cooperation with Russia. During the campaign, Burt also wrote white papers for Jeff Sessions on foreign policy and national security. Burt’s simultaneous roles as a campaign adviser for Trump and a lobbyist for Russian interests first drew scrutiny in October 2016 following the revelations of other connections between the campaign and Russia.[14]”. Wikipedia